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Show 177 "No, sort of protestant. My mother only went to church on Christmas and Easter." "Christmas! Easter!" She moved apart from me. "Not me. I dropped a l l that s t u f f , I don't believe any of i t ." "Don't believe in a Supreme Being?" She moved further apart. "I believe in the brotherhood of man. I believe in loving your fellow--" "What kind of name is Brocken?" Her voice softened in horror. "German?" "I guess i t was o r i g i n a l l y , but--" She moved further apart. "Do you have any relatives who were Nazis?" "We're American! We're all Americans! I'm as American as you are!" She looked skeptical. "I fought in the war. I fought against Hitler." She remained distant. At the U.T. we ordered drinks and she absorbed the ice but not the alcohol. Tom assured her that I was OK and she turned cooler yet: that a fellow Jew should f i x her up with a goy! When I argued logically and rationally, she grew positively f r i g i d . So I sai-\ b i t t e r l y , sounding ^iery sincere, that this is what I got for risking my l i f e to fight the Nazis. "You said you were in the Navy." "Right, and most people assume the Navy was only in the Pacific. But what about the A t l a n t i c , i t ' s an ocean too. As i t happens, I was on a carrier in the Mediterranean. We flew all the dangerous s t u f f , to clear the beaches for infantry landings." "In Germany?" "Not exactly in Germany. Mo beaches in Germany. But in Italy, so our troops could get to Germany." Italy put her off. "And I'll tell you it was more than a job with me; it was a crusade." Crusade put her off. "I mean my best buddy was Bob Berger and those Nazi bastards shot him down." She warmed slightly. "He was Jewish?" |